The reviews give me life. Thank you.

I'm sorry for basically disappearing, my assignments have been killing me these last couple of months. Damn, whoever said college was a walk in the park needs to get hit in the face. With a brick.

TWO

"Dear life, when I asked if my day could get any worse, it was a rhetorical question not a challenge."

: :

'Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!'

I slammed my locker door shut as the bell rang, signalling it was time for the last class of the day.

Great. Just what I needed on a day like this: Chemistry.

I shouldered my bag and headed off down the hallway toward the Science rooms, pushing past people without an apology as I walked.

I turned a corner and walked straight into something solid. The impact knocked me flat on my butt.

Moaning with pain, I looked around for my bag, which had flung off my shoulder as I had fallen.

"Here," a deep, male voice said.

I turned to see my bag being held right in front of my eyes by a tanned hand. Slowly, my eyes followed the muscular arm connected to the hand all the way up to the instantly recognizable green eyes of… Butch.

My eyes narrowed into a death glare as I snatched my bag from the Devil's apprentice and scrambled to my feet. With a huff, I swung my bag onto my shoulder and turned to strut off, my nose held high in the air.

"Bubbles, wait." Butch's hand enclosed around my wrist.

I stopped, but I think it was more from Butch saying my name for the first time in a year rather than the fact that he was still holding onto my wrist. Trying to calm the sudden butterflies that had exploded in my stomach (what the hell was wrong with me?!), I turned to face Butch, a scowl set upon my features.

"Don't touch me, Summers," I spat, glaring up at him.

An unreadable expression flickered behind his eyes and then he asked a question that I had never thought I would hear from him: "Can we talk, please?"

I frowned up at him, curiosity washing over me. Why did he want to talk now? He had had a full year to talk to me or Brick and he chooses now?

Without thinking, I opened my mouth and was about to utter a breathless "yes" when reason seemed to catch up with my shock and curiosity. I clamped my mouth shut and, mostly because I thought my voice would betray my feelings if I spoke, I simply turned around and stalked off, my chin held high.

If I didn't know better, I could have sworn I heard Butch sigh in a disappointed way as I strutted off towards Chemistry, taking the long way to avoid him completely.

: :

"Late again, Miss Utonium," Mr. Thompson said in a disapproving way when I entered the Chemistry classroom.

"Sorry sir, it won't happen again," I assured him automatically.

"That's what you've said the past six times you've walked into my classroom, yet nothing seems to have changed," Mr. Thompson stated, his eyebrow arching as he pushed his circular glasses up his nose in an old habit of his.

"Well, give me a detention then," I said in a resigned way, sick of playing this same game with him at the beginning of every lesson.

Mr. Thompson looked taken aback for a moment before he seemed to recover and said, "Take your seat, Bubbles. I'll talk to you after class."

I rolled my eyes and trudged to the back of the classroom where Brick and Boomer were sitting at a bench. Brick had already fallen asleep on the bench top, as was ritual. Boomer watched me as I slid onto the stool next to him, an amused smirk playing across his lips.

"What?" I said in a more snappish manner than I had intended.

Boomer, however, didn't look offended. He merely chuckled and said, "In trouble already, Blue? Tut tut. What are we going to do with you?"

I mumbled an incoherent response, leaning my head on my hand as I stared up at Mr. Thompson, who had begun to teach. Boomer laughed.

"So why were you late?" he asked.

I hesitated for a moment, my eyes flicking from him back to the whiteboard. "I may or may not have… runintoButchSummers." I finished hurriedly.

Suddenly, Brick's head jerked up from the bench, his eyes fluttering open as he turned to look at me. "You what?!"

"Brick! Please contain yourself!" Mr. Thompson cried from the front of the classroom.

Brick called an impatient apology before rounding back on me.

I fought to hide my smile. "I thought you were asleep?"

"I was getting there," Brick muttered before demanding, "What did he say?"

I sighed with a shrug. "It's not that big of a deal," I said. "He just wanted to talk."

Boomer's eyebrows drew together in a confused frown. "Summers wanted to talk to you? Why?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I asked.

Suddenly, Brick exclaimed, "Son-of-a-bitch!"

Mr. Thompson, thoroughly offended now, whirled around to face our table. "Brick Utonium! I'll see you after class!"

Brick waved an irritated hand at Mr. Thompson as if gesturing him to shut up, not even sparing the poor teacher a glance. Mr. Thompson opened his mouth, obviously to argue, before sighing and turning back to the rest of the class, resuming his teaching once again.

"Brick, what's wrong with you?" I hissed. "Mom said she'll ground you the next time you get in trouble!"

Brick rolled his eyes. "Never mind that! Summers is up to his old mind games again! He wants another war!"

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Oh, shut up Brick. You know I hated that so-called 'war'. It got nobody anywhere and only proved that both of you are ego-controlled, arrogant idiots," I snapped.

I immediately regretted what I had just said as Brick's eyes darkened.

"Is that what you think, Bubbles?" Brick asked. "That I'm an ego-controlled, arrogant idiot? What? Do you think I wanted my best friend to sleep with my girlfriend and line my twin sister up to be his next victim?"

I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Of course not, Brick. I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me today. I think I'm just… overtired or something. I was woken up at 5:30 this morning by a certain screaming mother yelling about a certain bad-boy twin brother." I offered Brick a hopeful smile.

Brick returned my hopeful grin with a small twitch of his lips before laying his head back on the bench top and closing his eyes.

Boomer, who had been watching the whole verbal fight warily, now leaned in close to me on the pretence of jotting down notes.

"So, what do you think Summers wants?" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

I shrugged. "Who knows?" I muttered.

I whiled away the rest of the class by drawing love hearts in my notebook and talking to Boomer while Brick slept. Finally, the bell rang out through the halls of the school and everyone began to pack up.

"Brick! Bubbles! Come here please," Mr. Thoson called over the noise of departing students.

I let out a long sigh and trudged over to Mr. Thompson's desk with Brick by my side. I heard a couple of girls giggle and say breathless goodbyes to Brick as we passed. Rolling my eyes at their predictable behaviour, I leaned against Mr. Thompson's desk, waiting for him to speak.

Mr. Thompson took a deep, steadying breath, his cold blue gaze drifting between Brick and I. "Look, you two, I really don't want to be angry with you –"

"Great!" Brick suddenly interrupted, a sparkling fake smile on his face. "See you on Thursday, Mr. T!"

I watched, amused, as my brother began to walk out of the classroom.

"Detention, Brick!" Mr. Thompson called angrily after him.

Brick simply flashed him a bright grin over his shoulder, winked at me and disappeared into the mass of students milling around in the hall beyond the door. Barely concealing my laughter, I turned back to Mr. Thompson with a small smile.

Mr. Thompson opened and closed his mouth a few times, his face red behind his glasses. Finally, he pushed his glasses up his nose and let out a long sigh, like air being released from a balloon.

"You can go, Bubbles," he said in a resigned voice, sitting down in his chair.

I grinned. "Thanks sir," I said as I readjusted my bag on my shoulder and headed out of the classroom. "See you on Thursday."

Mr. Thompson merely raised a hand in farewell, his eyes fixed on the test papers on the desk in front of him.

I made my way through the packed halls towards my locker; my spirits slightly lifted seeing as it was the end of the day. I smiled to myself, thinking about the long night I had planned, full of "Me Time" as Robin liked to call it.

"Hey Bub!"

Speaking of Robin…

I turned, smiling at the approaching figure of my best friend. Serena, Todd's girlfriend, was walking behind her, looking slightly shy.

Whilst pretty, Serena was an extremely shy girl – I never really got why Todd went for shy girls when he was so outgoing himself. She seemed slightly uncomfortable next to the loud and booming Robin.

But even though Robin could be very loud at times, she was also great for a long meaningful talk about anything and everything.

"Hey Rob; hey Serena," I said, smiling warmly at the shy girl, who gave me a soft, "Hi," in return.

"What're you doing tonight, Bubbly?" Robin asked, falling in step beside me as we walked toward my locker.

I shrugged. "I've got some Me Time planned," I said.

Robin laughed. "Yeah, I might indulge in some of that myself." She frowned suddenly. "Hang on, I thought Brick was having a party over at your house tonight."

I let out a frustrated cry. "You can't be serious?! Why does my brother have to be the most popular guy in school?" I sighed as we reached my locker.

Robin laughed. "Things just happen like that, I guess."

I grumbled incoherently as I opened my locker and shoved my belongings inside.

"Well, I better be going or I'll miss the bus," I sighed, closing my locker and turning back to Robin.

"OK, Bubs. Well, you have to call me if your Me Time gets interrupted and you want some company, OK? I'll be over in a flash," Robin told me as we hugged.

"Alright. I'll call you too, Serena, and we can have a girls' night together," I said, trying my best to include the shy girl.

Serena smiled, her cheeks flushing a bright red as she shrugged and nodded.

I held up a hand in goodbye and headed outside.

~End Of Chapter~

Sorry about the short chapter. I'll try to update as soon as possible.

The next chapter will be longer. It's about the party and I know it seems a little early to be having a party chapter, but parties are a big part of the characters' lives.

Anyways, hope you guys review. The reviews keep me going :)

~Shiloh